Gurgaon: A 20-year-old youth, originally from Rajasthan, who was brutally thrashed on New Year’s eve , succumbed to his injuries in Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi on Wednesday. The deceased was the accused in a POCSO Act case registered in April, 2018, and had been released on bail from Bhondsi jail around 15 days before. Police suspect that the unidentified assailants may have been the girl’s kin, seeking revenge.On the night of December 31, police received a complaint from Ashok Vihar resident Dipanshu, that he was standing near Life Care Hospital on Madanpuri road along with his friends Sonu Sharma (the deceased), hailing from Dausa in Rajasthan but living in Bheem Nagar colony, when half-a-dozen unidentified boys arrived and began to thrash them. The complainant alleged they were brutally thrashed and left to die, but they managed to reach a private hospital nearby with the help of passersby. From there, Sonu had been referred to Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital owing to his critical condition.Based on Dipanshu’s complaint, the police registered an FIR against unidentified boys under sections 147 (rioting), 149 (unlawful assembly), 323 (causing hurt), 325 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt), 506 (criminal intimidation) of IPC at New Colony police station on Tuesday. But on Wednesday morning, they were informed by the Delhi hospital that Sonu Sharma had succumbed to his injuries, at which, a police team went to the hospital to take charge of the dead body. They also added Section 302 (murder) of IPC in the FIR.“The deceased, along with his friend, had reached the spot where they were accosted from the Baldev Nagar side. An argument began between the deceased, Sonu Sharma, and a boy. Soon, six youths arrived with sticks and thrashed Sonu and Dipanshu,” said inspector Ashok Dagar, SHO of New Colony police station.Sonu was arrested in April 2018 for allegedly raping his 13-year-old neighbour in Bheem Nagar, where he lived as tenant and worked as a helper in a shop in Sadar Bazaar. In her complaint, the Class IX student had alleged that Sonu had befriended her, then lured and raped her for the first time in December 2017, after which he had continued to blackmail and repeatedly rape her. She had alleged Sonu would come to their home whenever she was alone, or call her over to the terrace of her house and exploit her.It stopped only when in April 2018, when her aunt heard him whistling on the terrace and confronted her, when she confided in her. An FIR was registered against Sonu, who was immediately arrested and sent to jail, from which he had emerged on bail sometime in mid-December. Sources said although neither Sonu’s family nor his friend, the complainant, had named any suspects, the role of the family of the rape victim was being probed for possible leads. SHO Dagar said, “We’re probing the revenge angle too, as the deceased was involved in a POCSO case, but it doesn’t seem likely. However, nothing much can be said as of now.”

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